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Is GFA review an exercise in futility?

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Most observers believe that the Rev. Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists are not prepared to move on substantial issues regarding Sinn Fein’s involvement in a power-sharing executive until after June’s European elections at the very least. Paisley has called for a “new agreement.”
Republicans have insisted that the review process not become a renegotiation of the agreement and that the democratic institutions be immediately restored.
It is difficult to see how the two positions can be reconciled in the short to medium term. While Paisley’s meeting with the taoiseach last week was described as friendly and “business-like,” the DUP will not wish to undermine its electoral fortunes by being seen to compromise on the issue of IRA weapons. Sinn Fein, while keen to see the elected Assembly up and running, will claim that last October’s act of decommissioning by the IRA and its accompanying statement on the future of the agreement should be enough to see a return to government.
“Unlike the UUP the DUP have not and will not budge from electoral pledges,” said DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson. “Not only will Sinn Fein not be given entry to an executive before decommissioning all its weapons but all the other paraphernalia of terrorism will have to go as well. The DUP will not share power with terrorist representatives,” he said.
In the meantime, the review will allow all sides an opportunity to size each other up before engaging in any meaningful talks process. The Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, both of which suffered at the hands of their respective rivals in last November’s elections, will be keen to emphasize the strengths they bring to the table.
The SDLP and the Ulster Unionists will have to work hard at reestablishing their credentials. The leaders of both parties, Mark Durkan and David Trimble, may find themselves pushed to the side as the two governments pursue a deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein.
“While we are happy to put forward our views on a whole range of issues, including the functions of the institutions, the question has to be asked, What is the point of reviewing the rules and regulations if the Assembly is never going to sit?” Trimble said Monday. He went on to question the strategy of the DUP claiming that the party had stolen the UUP’s clothes by entering the review stage with Sinn Fein.
“Unless there are meaningful, confidence-building acts of completion, there is no real prospect of progress in these review sessions. In fact, the review can only serve to mask the underlying problem,” he said.
Sinn Fein’s president, Gerry Adams, called on the British government to restore the Assembly and said that the election results in November showed a clear majority in favor of the agreement.
“Those results show that the Good Friday agreement continues to enjoy the substantial support of the majority of the people,” he said. “Those who voted did so in the expectation that those they elected would be part of working institutions.
“We are entitled therefore to ask the British government to explain at this point the inconsistency between their assertion that the agreement cannot be renegotiated and their failure to restore the political institutions which are the democratic core of the agreement.”
Meanwhile, Durkan claimed that the agreement was not up for renegotiation and that his party would not be engaging in talks that may undermine the workings of the Assembly.
Two of the smaller parties, the Progressive Unionist Party and the Alliance party, will be arguing for a change to the voting system used in the Assembly. The current cross-community D’Hondt system requires cross-community support for any executive with a majority of designated nationalists and unionists providing backing. The parties claim that the current system entrenches sectarianism and excludes those parties that choose to designate themselves as “other.” The proposals have been rejected by both the SDLP and Sinn Fein and are unlikely to win much support among unionists.

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